When the first half of Masters of the Universe: Revelation premiered in July 2021, some fans were not pleased. He-Man, it turns out, was barely in it, while sorceress Teela took over as the series' central character. Now, in the run-up to new outing Revolution, the Netflix show's bosses have promised fans the character will feature much more in the fresh batch of episodes.
"This is a story that's going to explore what it means to be He-Man when a new responsibility falls on Adam," executive producer Ted Biaselli tells SFX magazine in the new issue, which features Halo season 2 on the cover. "I think it's really interesting to explore what it's like when, as an adult, you know what you want to do, and your parents also have expectations for you. How do you reconcile with that?
"We do it with an eye towards making sure fans know that He-Man is in three-and-a-half or four out of the five episodes," he adds, teasingly. "He is He-Man in the show!"
Following on from the events of Revelation, Revolution sees He-Man try and thwart newly mechanized Skeletor's plan to attack Eternia using the might of the Motherboard. When he's not going toe to toe with the bulky bag o' bones, the blonde beefcake finds himself struggling to pick between the scepter or the sword, and a life as either the King or the Champion.
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While Biaselli, fellow EP Rob David, and showrunner Kevin Smith look to have taken the backlash on board and adjusted the ongoing story accordingly, the latter has no regrets about having He-Man take a bit of a backseat in Revelation.
"I know there are people that went after Revelation for putting Teela first or whatever, but we didn't," Smith explains. "Teela was as much a part of the story as she's always been a part of the story.
"I thought it would be a cool aspect of storytelling to remove the center of our universe for a few episodes and then bring him back. That wasn't me going, 'Let's break this franchise!' by any stretch of the imagination. People who wanted to attack the show were like, 'They killed He-Man', but it wasn't as if Mattel or Netflix were saying, 'Here man, go kill a franchise for us. That's why we brought you here!' Naturally, He-Man was always going to come back.
"Everything we did in He-Man's absence and when we brought him back still tied in heavily with the lore," continues Smith. "I'm a person who has enjoyed a franchise or two in his lifetime, and naturally I enjoy it when they respect the things that have gone before. We really went out of our way to honor what it was that people loved about MOTU. Everybody involved had skin in the game as to whether this would be a reinvention of the franchise or a spiritual continuation of the franchise. We were all in the latter camp."
All the usual suspects return for Masters of the Universe: Revolution, with Mark Hamill, Lena Headey, and Chris Wood once again voicing Skeletor, Evil-Lyn, and He-Man, respectively. This time around, though, Wood's Supergirl co-star and real-life wife Melissa Benoist will replace Sarah Michelle Gellar as Teela. Star Trek's William Shatner and Meg Foster, who played Evil-Lyn in 1987's live-action Masters of the Universe movie, round out the supporting cast.
Masters of the Universe: Revolution releases on January 25, 2024. The above is just a snippet of our interview, available in the latest issue of SFX magazine, which features Halo season 2 on the cover and is available on newsstands from Wednesday, January 24. For even more from SFX, sign up for the newsletter, sending all the latest exclusives straight to your inbox.
